263: Chapter 263 National Treasures: The Throne of Industry

May 6th, 9:00 AM, Hall 2 of the Shenzhen International Convention and Exhibition Center.

Today is the 6th day of the press conference, featuring everything from consumer electronics on the first day to power batteries on the second; new energy vehicles on the third, materials and military industry on the fourth, and chips on the fifth.

Five consecutive days of product launches, all featuring the cutting-edge technology of the current era, have bombarded and stunned the global tech circle.

The moment one stepped into Hall 2, the senses were completely overwhelmed.

The first thing to hit was the smell—not the freshness of perfume or air conditioning, but the industrial scent of mixed metal cutting fluid, lubricating oil, and coolant, intense and real, like walking into a mechanical factory operating at full capacity.

Then came the sound—not music, but the low hum of motors, the friction of lead screws sliding, and the breathing of hydraulic systems; these sounds wove together into an industrial symphony.

Finally, there was the visual impact.

There was no smooth glass or LED strips on the exhibition stands, only cold gray concrete floors, exposed steel structures, and steel behemoths gleaming with a cold light.

They were not products, but tools—tools that manufacture tools.

The audience sitting below was also completely different.

Front row VIP area: Hans, President of the China region for Trumpf Group of Germany, fifty-five years old, his silver hair combed meticulously, wearing a custom Armani suit, but with slight oil stains on his fingertips from long-term contact with machinery.

Koji Tanaka, Senior Director of FANUC Corporation of Japan, fifty years old, short in stature but with sharp eyes, sitting as straight as a robot.

Robert Chen, Vice President of Haas Automation in the United States, of Chinese descent, holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford, and is whispering to the representative of Agie Charmilles from Switzerland beside him.

The three major heavy industry giants of China: Liang Wengen, Chairman of Sany Heavy Industry; Zhan Chunxin, Chairman of Zoomlion; and Wang Min, Chairman of XCMG Group, sat side by side with solemn expressions.

In the middle and back rows were representatives of global manufacturing enterprises: Automotive industry: Toyota, Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford, BYD, Geely...

Aerospace: Boeing, Airbus, COMAC, United Aircraft Corporation of Russia...

Precision electronics: Foxconn, Pegatron, Flex, Luxshare Precision...

Energy and heavy industry: Siemens, General Electric, Shanghai Electric, Dongfang Electric...

Everyone held notebooks or tablets, but more people were using professional measuring tools: laser rangefinders, handheld roughness testers, vibration analyzers...

This was not a press conference; it was an examination hall.

And what was being tested today was the mettle of China's high-end equipment manufacturing industry.

The lights did not dim but instead focused directly on the center of the stage.

Gao Mingxuan walked up.

Forty-five years old, 1.85 meters tall, with a burly build, wearing dark blue work clothes—not the fashionable workwear style, but the kind actually worn in a workshop, with the Xingchen Heavy Industry logo embroidered on the chest: a flame surrounded by gears.

He did not use a microphone, but his voice was resonant enough to penetrate the entire venue: "Ladies and gentlemen, many of you know me."

Indeed, many people in the audience knew him.

Three years ago, Gao Mingxuan was still a senior engineer at Shenyang Machine Tool Group, and one could often see him presenting papers at industry technical exchanges.

At that time, he was always talking about "how to catch up with Germany, Japan, and the US," "how to narrow the gap in precision," and "how to reduce dependence on imports."

"Three years ago, I was still staying up late and losing hair trying to break through the 0.005-millimeter precision barrier," Gao Mingxuan continued, his tone as calm as if he were chatting about breakfast.

"At that time, our best CNC machine tool had a precision of 0.008 millimeters and a repeat positioning accuracy of 0.006 millimeters. Meanwhile, the same level of product from DMG Mori in Germany had a precision of 0.003 millimeters and was priced at three times ours."

He turned and pointed to the big screen behind him.

The screen was divided into three sections and began playing a video: Left section: German DMG Mori DMU 80 five-axis machining center. Location: Munich factory. Machining object: Aircraft engine titanium alloy blade. Parameter labeling: Positioning accuracy ± 0.003 mm, repeat positioning accuracy ± 0.002 mm, price 850,000 USD. In the footage, the robotic arm moved precisely, cutting out complex curved surfaces, with sparks like a waterfall.

Middle section: Japanese Mazak Integrex i-200 S turn-mill composite center. Location: Nagoya factory, Japan. Machining object: Automotive transmission housing. Parameter labeling: Machining precision 0.003 mm, surface roughness Ra 0.4 μm, price 680,000 USD. Five-axis linkage, completing all processes with one clamping.

Right section: American Haas VF-6 SS ultra-high-speed machining center. Location: California factory, USA. Machining object: Medical orthopedic implants. Parameter labeling: Spindle speed 12000rpm, positioning accuracy 0.004 mm, price 520,000 USD. Processing stainless steel parts, the surface is as smooth as a mirror.

The three videos played simultaneously for 30 seconds and then froze.

"These are the best commercial machine tools from Germany, Japan, and the US," Gao Mingxuan said. "Precision is around 0.003 millimeters, and the price is between 500,000 and 1 million USD. At least 70% of global high-end manufacturing uses these devices."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the foreign representatives in the audience.

"Today, I want to tell you all—"

He pressed the remote control in his hand.

The three video sections shrunk to the corner of the screen, and four large characters popped up in the center: Xingchen's Answer.

First batch: Xingchen CNC machining center series.

Heavenly Work Extreme five-axis machining center.

The curtain on the left side of the stage opened, and a silver-gray five-axis machining center slowly drove out.

It was larger than the DMG Mori DMU 80 in the video, with a more compact structure, and the casing was a mixture of aerospace aluminum and carbon fiber composite materials, making it both light and sturdy.

"Heavenly Work Extreme, a five-axis linkage machining center." Gao Mingxuan walked to the equipment and patted the machine body. "Specializing in aerospace, precision molds, and medical devices."

The big screen displayed a parameter comparison table: Working table size: 800 × 600mm vs 1000 × 800mm; X/Y/Z travel: 800/600/500mm vs 1000/800/600mm; Positioning accuracy: ±0.003 mm vs ±0.001 mm; Repeat positioning accuracy: ±0.002 mm vs ±0.0008 mm; Spindle speed: 18,000 rpm vs 24,000 rpm; Five-axis linkage accuracy: 0.008 mm vs 0.004 mm; Max feed speed: 30 m/min vs 50 m/min; Price: $850,000 vs $640,000.

When the two numbers "0.001 mm" and "$640,000" appeared simultaneously, a gasp of air echoed from the audience.

What is the concept of 0.001 millimeters? 1/80th of the diameter of a human hair. 1/100th of the thickness of an ordinary A4 paper. The current theoretical limit of commercial machine tools.

"I know some people don't believe it," Gao Mingxuan said directly. "So, on-site machining, on-site inspection."

Staff pushed over a material rack with three materials on it: 7075 aerospace aluminum, used for aircraft structural parts; TC4 titanium alloy, used for aircraft engine blades; and SKD61 mold steel, used for automotive molds.

"Pick one at random," Gao Mingxuan said.

A German reporter in the audience raised his hand: "Titanium alloy! The hardest one to machine!"

"Okay."

Staff clamped the titanium alloy blank onto the workbench. The blank was a simple rectangular parallelepiped with dimensions of 200 × 150 × 50mm.

Gao Mingxuan operated the control panel and called up a machining program: "This is a simplified version of an aircraft engine blade, containing 12 free-form surfaces, 34 variable radius chamfers, and 7 deep holes."

He pressed the start button.

Hum— The sound of the spindle accelerating was low and smooth, 24,000 rpm, but without harsh high-frequency noise.

Then the robotic arm began to move.

Five-axis linkage—X, Y, Z linear axes, plus A-axis (rotating around the X-axis) and C-axis (rotating around the Z-axis). Five axes moved simultaneously, the trajectory as complex as a dance.

Cutting began.

Titanium alloy is notoriously difficult to machine: high hardness, poor thermal conductivity, and prone to sticking to the tool. Traditional machining requires low-speed, high-feed, but Heavenly Work Extreme directly used high-speed cutting.

The spindle speed was maintained at 18,000 rpm, and the feed speed reached 20 meters per minute.

Hiss— The cutting sound did not resemble metal friction, but rather like tearing silk. The titanium alloy chips were not the common curled shape, but powdery—this indicated that the cutting temperature was extremely well-controlled, and no high temperature was generated to cause material deformation.

Three minutes.

The robotic arm stopped, and the spindle ceased rotation.

On the workbench, an exquisite blade workpiece was presented before everyone. The curved surfaces were smooth, the chamfers uniform, and the deep holes straight.

"Now, inspection," Gao Mingxuan signaled.

Two inspectors pushed a coordinate measuring machine onto the stage. This was not an ordinary handheld device, but a Zeiss CONTURA coordinate measuring machine, made in Germany, with an accuracy of 0.5 micrometers.

The measuring probe moved across the workpiece surface, and the data was transmitted in real-time to the big screen: Dimension inspection: Contour error: 0.0012 mm. Position error: 0.0009 mm. Angle error: 0.002°. Surface roughness inspection: Ra (arithmetic mean roughness): 0.18 μm. Rz (maximum height roughness): 1.2 μm. Geometric tolerance inspection: Flatness: 0.0015 mm. Perpendicularity: 0.0018 mm. Coaxiality: 0.002 mm.

All data was superior to the labeled 0.001 mm precision.

Offstage, Hans from Germany's Trumpf stood up, walked to the edge of the stage, and observed the workpiece at close range. He took out his own portable roughness tester—a German Hommel T1000, with an accuracy of 0.01 μm, and aimed it at the workpiece surface.

Reading: Ra 0.19 μm. It was almost identical to the results from the Zeiss measuring machine.

Hans was silent for five seconds, then returned to his seat and whispered to his assistant: "Contact headquarters immediately. Our DMU series... needs to be redesigned."

His voice was not loud, but several people around him heard it.

Koji Tanaka, the representative from Japan's Mazak, turned pale. He knew that if Xingchen's five-axis machine tool truly had this precision and price, the advantage of Japanese machine tools in the mid-to-high-end market would be wiped out.

"The price is 80% of DMG Mori's," Gao Mingxuan repeated. "And we provide a three-year warranty, including all core components. DMG Mori's warranty is only one year, and replacing the spindle and lead screw requires additional payment."

He paused: "In addition, our CNC system is the self-developed 'Xingchu OS', which supports four-language interfaces: Chinese, English, German, and Japanese, and the operation logic is more in line with the habits of Chinese workers."

This statement was sharp: the operating systems of German and Japanese machine tools were complex and difficult to learn, requiring specialized training, while Xingchen's system was easier to use.